


Earth

by mific



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Cut off from Earth, Drabble, Fanfiction, M/M, SGA Saturday Prompt Challenge, Survival, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 22:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9348572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mific/pseuds/mific
Summary: They survive.





	

**Author's Note:**

> From [writing-prompts-s](http://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/) on tumblr: "Write a short story where the first sentence has 20 words, 2nd sentence has 19, 3rd has 18 etc. Story ends with a single word."  
> An interesting exercise, with prose morphing into poetry at the end. 
> 
> This is also for the SGA Saturday prompt: "Earth"  
> And it's a brief starter for the Apocalypse Kree challenge which is currently posting.  
> (Small edit after posting to fix a non-US spelling glitch)

 

They never discover why Earth stops responding, why the Gate persistently fails to connect, why the Daedalus never comes back.

The ZPM's depleted but it lasts just long enough to let them panic, then mourn, then finally make plans. John's missions become searches for refuge, echoing that first chaotic day before the failsafe activated and Atlantis rose. Their last act before leaving through the Gate is to submerge her again: Rodney sets the timer.

The remaining Athosians come with them, too few to survive alone, their skills sorely needed now.

The planet's uninhabited, temperate, thickly forested from Ancient terraforming, with fertile soil in the valleys. They chose it for that, and the deep limestone caverns for storage and shelter.

Rodney complains the caves make his bones ache so John shares his bedroll. One change, lost in many - rules that once governed them now meaningless.

Tents are pitched and cabins raised, the botanists supervising land clearance. John leads trade missions, hunts, and plows, while Rodney builds. An aqueduct from the river, a water mill, pumps.

Twenty people die the first winter: illness, injuries. They learn to kill lion-bears and wolf-lizards.

Nightly, John's hands mourn Rodney's belly. They're all weathered, whipcord thin.

Spring, and John's plowing.

He looks down.

Looks up.

Earth.

 


End file.
